


tulle roses

by yoonyuten (sunflowerhsh)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, M/M, fashion magazine, jeonghan ballet teacher, seungcheol is a ceo, seungcheol soft dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerhsh/pseuds/yoonyuten
Summary: "Seri says my outfits to work are too boring. The princess is too powerful, I’m going to end up coming to work wearing a pink suit." Or the au where Seungcheol is a soft dad and his daughter's ballet teacher is very cute.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan
Comments: 18
Kudos: 98





	1. la rose

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! IT's me again, I wanted to share with you guys this idea. I love soft dad seungcheol so I hope you like it, please let me know.   
> Special thanks to my baby [kirinhannie](https://twitter.com/kirinhannie) for helping me with this, love you

Morning traffic, Great! Seungcheol groans as he’s again, hopelessly waiting for the traffic light to change so he can move another 300m. He’s running late for the morning meeting. At least he was able to drop Seri at the daycare on time. He quickly dials his assistant’s number so he can at least postpone the meeting 30 minutes later.

“Choi Seungcheol the meeting is about to start, where are you?” his assistant hisses.

“Jihoon, I’m running late. Seri forgot her bunny doll at home, so we had to go back. Please reschedule the meeting for 9:30,” Seungcheol begs.

“You’re so lucky you’re the boss, fine. Only because I like Seri better than you,” Jihoon agrees.

Jihoon may not be the most affectionate person but he is the best friend Seungcheol could ask for, always worrying about him and keeping him in line for the company’s sake. If there was anyone keeping the magazine on float, it was Jihoon. Being the director of a fashion magazine came with many obligations and little space for a life, so having someone like Jihoon as his assistant was truly a gift from above. He managed to put all of the meetings, arrangements, and deals signing to the morning, the time where his daughter was in the daycare. 

Seungcheol takes a moment to collect himself before entering the meeting room. He was late but he had to look unbothered for the sake of his pride. 

“Good morning, my apologies for the sudden change, I had errands to run,” he said sternly. 

The room became quiet, so quiet that if a needle fell down you could definitely hear it. Seungcheol glances at the rest of his staff, all of them wearing a surprised expression. What is going on? He looks at Jihoon, he looks like he’s trying to suppress a laugh. He looks at him quizzically, does his face look funny? 

“Mr. Choi?” His secretary, Eunwoo, calls him with a slight tremble in her voice.

“Yes?” Seungcheol replies.

“I think you have something on your hair.” She signals to his hair and passes him a hand mirror. 

Seungcheol takes the mirror and takes a look at himself. His black hair has strands covered with pink glitter. He puts the mirror down and starts laughing. So that’s what Seri meant when she said she wanted to style Seungcheol’s hair this morning. ‘Your hairstyle is too boring daddy, I’m gonna make it prettier’ she said in the morning. He agreed easily, he was busy looking at today’s schedule. He really ended up with pink glitter on his hair, he loves his baby a little too much. When he remembers he has a meeting to lead, he clears his voice, the chatter on the room dying quickly. 

“Alright, I hope you had a good time laughing, but let’s start this meeting. I see you all seem more comfortable now. Let’s see how much this enthusiasm lasts after I see your proposals for next month’s issue of the magazine,” he says while taking a seat. 

The meeting runs better than expected, no one exits to the bathroom to cry after Seungcheol reviewed their proposals. At least that’s what Jihoon says about it. Maybe the hair incident did leave him in a good mood. Some of the staff were surprised how good his temper was this morning. 

“You should let Seri play with your hair more often, it’s a blessing for the meetings,” Jihoon shares. 

“She says my outfits to work are too boring. The princess is too powerful, I’m going to end up coming to work wearing a pink suit,” Seungcheol confesses. 

“I would like to see that, some of your employees are intimidated by you. They say your face is scary,” Jihoon whispers.

“I do need to be respected by them. What are you gonna do if they start slacking off? You already have too much work to do by yourself,” he reasons.

“Fine.”

**

“Mr. Choi, Xu Minghao is here for the fall collection review,” Eunwoo announces through the phone.

“Excellent, call the rest so we can start the meeting.”

His team sits at the sides of a small runway built up at one of the meeting rooms, used for occasions where designers came by to present their latest works to Seungcheol. His magazine was famous for always including the latest trends, exposition for new artists and lengthy critiques to the collections put out every month. To say it shortly, SC magazine has the last word about everything going around in the fashion industry, therefore Seungcheol’s opinion is the only one that really matters. 

“Mr. Choi, thank you so much for taking your time to evaluate my collection this year,” Xu Minghao says. 

“No problem. You’re a gem kid, keep it up,” he says nonchalantly.

Xu Minghao is a new designer that quickly gained Seungcheol’s attention after putting up a revolutionary collection for his final project at the most prestigious fashion academy. He was studying there on a full scholarship, coming from a humble family in China. When he graduated, he was granted a full spread on SC magazine. He became one of Seungcheol’s favorite designers, Xu Minghao with ambitious eyes and a shy smile. He always asks him to review his collection before launching. 

As the models walked down the runway, his demeanor changes. He needs to focus on the small details that pull up the collection together, if there’s cohesion between the pieces, if there’s something that doesn’t match or is just unimpressive. As expected, Minghao outdid himself again, he always manages to surprise Seungcheol. His pieces are always above the standard, the designs so intricate and sophisticated he has no complaints whatsoever.

“Well done. This is going to be the highlight of this year’s fashion week. There is no doubt,” Seungcheol says, extending his hand to Minghao. 

“Thank you,” he says shyly. Minghao pauses and takes Seungcheol’s hand back, examining it. “Oh hyung, I didn’t know you followed the trends, your nails look amazing.” He looks at him confused, taking a glance at his nails. 

Pause.

He totally forgot he was playing last night with the new nail polishes Jihoon gifted Seri. She wanted to paint Seungcheol’s nails because apparently ‘they would look good with your black suits daddy’. He let her, but he forgot to clean them off before this meeting. Seri had painted his nails into a golden glittery mess and he just left the house like that. He already attended three meetings before this one, but no one dared to mention it except Minghao.

“Oh!” Seungcheol starts examining his nails again. “My daughter did this last night. If you’ll excuse me, I have a busy schedule today. See you soon Minghao,” he finishes and walks away.

**

“Daddy!” Seri runs to Seungcheol’s arms and he lifts her up. 

“Hello princess, did you behave well today?” He kisses her forehead. “You didn’t give Mr. Boo a hard time?” 

“No, we had fun today! Mr. Boo let us use paint today!” she says excitedly. Seungcheol walks to his car with Seri on his arms. He puts her down and gets her inside the car. 

“Oh really? What did you paint? Let me see,” Seungcheol says as he gets to his seat. 

“I painted a flower daddy. This is for you.” She hands him the drawing. It’s a mixture of different colors: pink, yellow and green that weirdly did look like a flower. It was perfect. 

“My princess, this is beautiful. I love it!” He says enthusiastically. 

  
  


When they get home, Seri quickly storms to the living room, saying hello to all of the plushies that couldn’t join her today for school. Seungcheol can faintly hear her telling how Mr. whiskers is going and telling them that Mr. Cotton, the bunny, had a great day with her. 

He chuckles and takes his shoes and coat off, then walks to his room to change. Seri and him always have dinner together and then they watch a movie together until it’s time for Seri to sleep. This time she picks a movie about ballerinas. She twirls around the room the whole time and even asks Seungcheol to join her. What is he going to do? Say no? To his princess? Not a chance. That’s how he ends up dancing around with his daughter, with Seri scolding him for being too stiff. 

“Daddy you need to move more. You’re too slow,” she complains. 

The movie is over quickly and it’s almost bedtime, so he takes Seri to the bathroom. He helps her brush her teeth and clean up, detangling her pigtails and putting on her favorite pajamas, the ones with bunny prints. 

“Daddy?” she asks when she’s tucked in bed. 

“Yes princess?” Seungcheol replies. 

“I want to dance ballet. Some of my friends from class go to ballet classes,” she says, hugging Mr. Cotton tightly. 

“You want to do ballet, princess?” he repeats.

“Yes!” she exclaims and smiles.

Choi Seungcheol, totally whipped for his beautiful daughter, is unable to deny a thing to her. He can hear Jihoon’s voice nagging at him ‘you’re spoiling her Choi’. But if Seri starts ballet school, he can have time to squish some meetings in the afternoon as well, so Jihoon better not get mad at him. 

“Alright, I’ll find a school for you and I’ll take you there. What do you think?” he decides. 

“You’re the best,” she squeals and hugs her dad. 

“Now go to bed. Mr. Cotton is sleepy,” he whispers. Seri nods and gets back into her sheets.

“Good night daddy,” she mumbles.

“Good night princess,” he says and kisses her forehead. 

**

The next morning, he calls his secretary. Having no clue about what to do regarding Seri's wish to receive ballet lessons, he has no other choice than to ask someone else for help. Eunwoo, being his secretary, was his best choice because not only was she very diligent, but she was also his employee so she had to help whether she liked it or not.

“Yes Mr. Choi, you called me?” Eunwoo says as she opens the door. 

“Eunwoo, come here, take a seat. I have a favor to ask you, he explains

She quickly walks to the desk and takes a seat in front of Seungcheol. “What can I do to help you?” she blurts out.

Seungcheol smiles, remembering Seri’s face when she told him she wanted to be a ballerina. “You must already know I have a daughter,” he starts. “She wants to receive ballet lessons and I want only the best for her, so your task is to look for the best ballet academies and then present them to me.” 

Eunwoo looks stunned, but nods anyways. “I’ll make some calls and I will get back to you with what I find.” 

“Thank you, really, this means a lot,” he confesses. 

The rest of the morning is uneventful, it’s a signing proposals day so he is stuck at his office until it’s time to retrieve Seri from the daycare. The hours passing painfully slow, with paperwork that doesn’t seem to end. He’s busy reading a report, when his phone rings. 

“Yes, Eunwoo,” he says as he picks it up.

“I have three ballet academies for you. One of them is actually close to the building and it’s famous for winning many domestic and international awards. Also, the teachers are all in their twenties,” she states. 

“Sounds good to me. Schedule an appointment for 3pm and send the driver to pick Seri up. I’ll call her school to notify them,” he concludes. “Thank you Eunwoo. Feel free to go home early.” He hangs up and calls the daycare, telling them his driver is picking Seri up today, sending them his id and contact number. 

He is immersed in some designs he was supposed to revise this week and doesn’t notice his door open until he hears someone running to his desk. He looks up and Seri is smiling at him. “Daddy you look so cool!” she squeals. 

He takes a glance to the door and he can see his driver smiling. “Seri sweetheart, what do we say after Mr. Park drops you here?” 

“Thank you Mr. Park,” she says and runs to hug Mr. Park’s leg. 

“No problem kiddo.” He ruffles her hair, bows to Seungcheol and closes the door. 

“Princess, let me finish this and we’ll go to your new ballet school.” Seungcheol says enthusiastically.

Seri’s eyes went wide and she smiled brightly. “Yes daddy.” She sat down on the sofa at Seungcheol’s office. 

They decide to walk their way to the academy. According to Eunwoo, it was two blocks away from the company. It’s been a while since he went for a walk with Seri, he’s been too busy at the office. This feels nice. She is a very curious kid, so she ends up asking about everything and anything that comes across them.

They quickly reach the academy. It’s a three-story building painted in white, with big glass windows and an enormous wooden door. They walk to the entrance and Seungcheol opens the door with hesitation. The lobby is pristine, with white marble floor and white painted walls that look impeccable. There’s a row of circular lamps hanging from the ceiling that guide to the front desk. 

Behind said desk, there’s a young man with caramel hair and feline eyes focused on the computer monitor. He seems to realize there’s someone near because he quickly glances up. 

“Hello, welcome to la Rose Academy. You must be Choi Seungcheol.” His voice is silky, but deep at the same time. This man stands up and walks to where he is standing up. “And this must be Choi Seri,” he says while he crunches down to reach her level.

“I’m Joshua Hong, the director of the academy,” he introduces himself, extending his hand to greet Seungcheol properly. They exchange their greetings. Joshua seems to be a very collected man, that proves the academy to be very professional.

“You’re lucky. Lessons are starting next week and we’re at full capacity, but your secretary is very persistent. We decided to make an exception,” Joshua informs him.

“Thank you very much. It was a rushed decision actually,” Seungcheol says, sounding embarrassed. 

“No problem. Let’s start the tour shall we?” Joshua says, clapping his hands in excitement.

The academy’s interior is exquisite. The dance rooms are spacious and well illuminated and the changing rooms look very organized and spotless. He can already see his princess dancing around here. He smiles to himself. Joshua takes them to every single corner of the building, talking about how they settled here and some of the academy’s prizes. 

As the tour finishes, he takes them to the teacher’s lounge, where there’s a couple of white sofas and some tables, a coffee machine and a tv. Inside the room, there’s another man. Seungcheol is sure this is the most beautiful man he has ever seen. This man has blonde hair that reaches his neck, hugging his jawline, prominent cheekbones, with a delicate nose and rosy lips. His visuals can only remind him of high fashion models, but strangely, models compared to him are meaningless. This man is even prettier than models. 

He stands up with a smile on his face. Oh, his smile is pretty too. What are you even thinking, Seungcheol? Focus! He tries to regain his composure until the man is in front of them. 

“Hello, I’m the beginners’ class teacher, Yoon Jeonghan. Nice to meet you,” the teacher introduces himself. 

The angel-looking man is his princess’s teacher? God help Seungcheol. He clears his throat. He is really hopeless. 

“Hello, I’m Seungcheol and this is my daughter Seri,” he blurts out, all of his charisma suddenly gone. 

“Hello Seri, I’ll be your new teacher,” Jeonghan says. “Are you excited?” he asks.

“Yes! I can’t wait to look like a princess,” Seri says while smiling brightly. 

“Cool. Seri, you can call me Mr. Yoon,” Jeonghan takes her hand and walks to the lobby.

“The kids love him,” Joshua states. Seungcheol really forgot he was in the room with them.

“Sit with me Mr. Choi. We have things to discuss.” Joshua sits on the couch and pats a place beside him for Seungcheol to sit on. 

After learning the rules and the things he has to buy for the lessons, he is back to the lobby where he sees Seri playing with Jeonghan’s hair. He can’t help but to smile. Seri is really a professional when talking with new people. She is not shy at all. 

“Seri, princess, say bye to Mr. Yoon,” he tells his daughter. 

“Bye Mr. Yoon. See you on Monday.” She hugs Jeonghan.

“Goodbye Mr. Choi. Don’t be late on Monday,” Jeonghan says smiling as Seungcheol opens the door. He can only nod and uses his hand to say goodbye. 

  
  



	2. blue suit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is different, after Seri’s insistence, Seungcheol is wearing a pastel blue suit for him to look like a ‘prince’ according to Seri. He must match with her pink outfit for today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I'm finally back with an update, I hope you like it. I want to thank the loml Maria for helping me with this chapter. I love u queen

Seungcheol spends his Saturday shopping for all the things his daughter was going to need to attend her classes. Joshua was kind enough to email him a list, recommending him the best places to find everything. 

So here he is, with a smile on his face, looking at his bunny trying on some pink ballet slippers. Seri stands up and starts dancing around the store, giggling and squealing. 

"You look like a dork, smiling like that," Jihoon points out. 

Jihoon insisted on accompanying him, after being scolded by his husband for not joining Seungcheol the day they went to the ballet academy. “I'm not risking it anymore, I have to take pictures and videos of Seri playing around with her ballet stuff. If not, Soonyoung is gonna make me sleep on the couch.”

“Uncle Hoonie! Look at my shoes!” Seri squeals. 

“You look beautiful, princess. Smile to the camera for uncle, hm,” Jihoon says as he snaps pictures of Seri posing showing her slippers.

Seungcheol takes out his phone to see what else they're still missing, the list wasn't even that long but they have been goofing around. 

"I'm going to need pink leotards and tights, too," Seungcheol tells the staff who has been patiently waiting for them all this time. 

"Of course, please let me show you the styles we have," she replies in a polite tone. 

As it turns out, there are a lot of different leotard styles for him to choose: long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless, flowy sleeves, with skirt, without skirt, with pink bows, with rhinestones. Seungcheol decides they would all look good on Seri so he chooses one of each style. Making sure they fit, he makes his daughter try them all on. He can hear Jihoon's humming every time, which means they all look good. Next time, they are going to make someone design some pretty leotards for Seri, 'she deserved the best' they both agreed. 

They end up buying pink scrunchies, hair nets and a lot, and when he says a lot, it's because it is an extraordinary amount of bobby pins. The store's staff even wished him luck in tieing Seri's hair up. It left Seungcheol a little bit scared, he can perfectly style his daughter's hair, thank you very much. So why is a bun different? Also, Seungcheol bought a pink bag, 'this one has bunnies, daddy' for her to carry a tumbler and some snacks, as Joshua requested. 

At the end of the day, Jihoon, satisfied with his footage, treats Seri to dinner. They enter the restaurant together, with Seri holding his and Jihoon’s hands, telling them about how she was excited to tell Mr. Cotton about all of the fun things she did today. The restaurant has high ceilings and wall-length windows that let them enjoy the night view, with a warm yellowish lightning and cushioned chairs, the place is perfect for having a nice dinner. 

“Daddy, I wanna go to the bathroom,” Seri tugs Seungcheol’s sleeve.

“Sure, let’s go, princess,” he tells her. Jihoon lets her hand go, and he leaves them to ask for a table.

When they’re back, Jihoon is already waiting for them with the plates in hand. It’s a buffet restaurant, so it’s easy for them to pick food for them and for Seri as well. After eyeing all of the options about three times, Choi Seri is finally ready to pick her food. With Jihoon’s help she starts telling him what she wants, and he gladly puts it on the plate for her. Delighted with her plate, Seungcheol takes her back to their table. 

They eat comfortably, with a random conversation about some princesses joining a car race in the middle, because Seri thinks it would be more fun if that happened in the stories. Seungcheol has to agree with her, adding that the princess should wear an appropriate outfit with a matching helmet. Jihoon only hums, proof that he’s listening although he has nothing to add. After their meal, Jihoon video calls his husband, who has been texting him nonstop, complaining that only they get to hang out with Seri.

“BUNNY!” Soonyoung says loudly to the screen.

“Uncle Soonie! I miss you,” Seri tells him.

“I know, bunny. I’ll see you after ballet on Monday,” Soonyoung chirps happily. 

“Uncle Soonie, I want to give my new classmates a gift on Monday,” Seri says. Seungcheol didn’t know about that, but there are things that his daughter only tells Soonyoung. 

“What are you going to give them, sweetheart?” he asks.

“Something to eat! but I still don’t know what,” Seri confesses. She purses her lips – she does that when she’s thinking about how to get in trouble. Not a good sign for Seungcheol.

“What about a snack? Something sweet,” Soonyoung tells her, his smile is so wide you can see all of his teeth.

“Soonyoung. Stop giving her ideas,” Jihoon retorts.

“C’mon Jihoonie, she wants to give her classmates gifts, isn’t that adorable? Also I’m sure Seungcheol can pay for snacks for 15 kids.” 

“Hey!” Seungcheol says. 

“So, Bunny, what sweets do you like?” Soonyoung says as he ignores Jihoon nagging at him.

“Cupcakes,” Serri says almost instantly. This suddenly doesn’t sound so good for Seungcheol because he knows what the princess is going to say after that.

“I love the cupcakes daddy bakes for me,” she adds. 

Soonyoung starts laughing too hard, they even have to lower the phone’s volume. “Cheol, it seems that you have to bake with Seri tomorrow,” he says excitedly. 

“Will you help me with the cupcakes, daddy?” Seri looks at him with those big dark orbs she has, and what is Seungcheol going to do? Say no? To his princess? Not a chance.

“Of course princess, we’ll bake them tomorrow,” he smiles at her. 

“Save me one!” Soonyoung says. 

“Goodbye Soonyoung, I’ll head back home in a moment,” Jihoon says quickly as he ends the call. 

This is how Seungcheol ends up in the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, with Seri as his assistant. They’re finally making use of the matching bunny aprons Soonyoung sent them a while ago. He had to get his princess a stool, she demanded to watch everything Seungcheol was doing. After getting all the ingredients ready, he gets by Seri’s side and explains to her the process. 

“Princess, you’re gonna help me with the mix, are you ready?” Seungcheol says as he puts flour into a clear bowl. He adds sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. He starts whisking it slowly, then when Seri asks to do it, he holds her hands to show her how to. When she gets comfortable, he leaves her to do it as he prepares another bowl. 

He cracks two eggs into the other bowl, adds buttermilk, vegetable oil, a little bit of sour cream, warm coffee, and vanilla. Then he starts stirring it up, looking to his side to see how Seri is doing. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her tongue is out, she looks focused and there’s already flour on the tip of her nose. Seungcheol chuckles. When both of the mixtures are ready, he pours the liquid mix into the bowl Seri was using. He now starts stirring the new mixture until it becomes homogeneous, and then he lets the princess stir it while he gets the cupcake papers. 

“Daddy, these are gonna be the best cupcakes in the world,” Seri squeals. 

“Why, princess?” Seungcheol asks her. 

“Because we are baking them together!” she replies enthusiastically.

Seungcheol smiles. These are the moments where he is the most grateful to the world for allowing him to have Seri by his side. His daughter truly is the best thing that has happened to him, he lives for her to be happy all the time, just the two of them against the world. 

They finally get the cupcakes to the oven. He takes Seri to the living room after she said she was tired from all the stirring they did. With some princess movie he finds on Netflix playing, Seri settles down on the couch. Reluctantly, he goes back to the kitchen to prepare the frosting; chocolate frosting for chocolate cupcakes, because that’s how Seri likes them. When the cupcakes are done, he lets them cool and goes back to the living room. The princess is dozing off, only perking up when she feels Seungcheol sitting down beside her. 

“Daddy! Are the cupcakes done?” she asks.

“Yes, we just need to put the frosting when they cool down,” he replies with a smile.

“I want to decorate the cupcakes!” she says excitedly.

“Of course bunny, the frosting is ready for you,” Seungcheol tells her.

Seri stands from where she is and quickly gets to Seungcheol’s side to hug him. “Daddy, you’re the best.” He hugs his daughter back, his chest aching. He really loves his little princess with all his being.

Eventually they both march back to the kitchen, Seri, a little bit too excited about putting frosting on the cupcakes. They end up with their faces covered in frosting and many failed attempts but definitely with many laughs in the process. After cleaning up the mess, Seungcheol puts the cupcakes in the refrigerator and takes Seri to the bathroom; she desperately needs a bath. 

Monday is the day Seungcheol needs to revise proposals for the main photoshoot of the next magazine issue. The atmosphere at the office is thick, everyone walking on eggshells when Seungcheol is near. It’s not that he has fun tormenting his staff, but during these days he likes wearing all black, to match the mood. Today is different, after Seri’s insistence, Seungcheol is wearing a pastel blue suit for him to look like a ‘prince’ according to Seri. He must match with her pink outfit for today. So here he is, in a blue suit with white shoes, his hair styled with the parting to a side and a little bouquet of flowers on the way, because he is just very whipped for his daughter. He’s in a great mood. Maybe this day will turn out great after all. He’s just hoping for the proposals to be at least acceptable; his employees have been extremely polite and attentive today, that should be a good sign, right?

Seungcheol was wrong. This is a disaster. 

Not interesting.

Not innovative.

Boring.

Already done before.

Someone help him.

He has been reading countless proposals all day, and there is nothing that piques his interest or that’s even acceptable for him to fix afterwards. If Seungcheol has to go over more proposals for this photoshoot concept, he really is going to start crying. And there is no one who would pay him attention like he would when Seri cries. 

The concepts his staff have presented so far are not suited for his magazine. When did it all go wrong? Last week the proposals were outstanding, very SC influenced. Why isn't it working today? Seungcheol wants to rip his hair out. Today is supposed to be a great day: he is talking Seri to his first ballet class, and promised to take her out for dinner. ‘Daddy, I want pizza,’ she said. He is usually very strict about his daughter's nutrient intake but it doesn't hurt to eat pizza once in a while. Jihoon and his husband are also joining them tonight, after insisting on being there for every single thing Seri does.

But his mood is souring up fastly, every time he opens a new document and the proposal turns out to be the blandest thing ever, he pops a vein. This won't do. He’s going to ruin Seri's day if the clock strikes 3 PM and he's still pissed. He reluctantly calls his assistant. “Schedule an emergency meeting in 30 minutes,” he says through the phone. 

"On it Mr. Choi," Eunwoo replies. 

He's going to enter that meeting and give the team a few more days to come up with something else, before everything gets delayed and he starts losing money. He's really going to get mad if that happens. Too deep into his thoughts he almost didn't notice Jihoon entering his office. 

“I can see proposal day is not going very well,” he points out to all the mess lying on Seungcheol's desk. 

“Jihoon, this was supposed to be a good day,” he cries.

Jihoon hums. "Is that why you called a meeting? The office is panicking already." 

“I need to fix this mess before Seri gets here.”

"Yeah, your face is kinda scary right now," Jihoon laughs at him. 

Seungcheol scowls at him, "This is serious, Jihoon. We don't have a main photoshoot yet and we're running out of time."

Jihoon looks at him with what looks like disappointment, "Then think of something yourself Choi, you've been slacking off." 

Seungcheol closes his mouth. He really can't refute that. He just wants to include other people's ideas in the magazine, but as it turns out, that isn’t something that works all the time.

Jihoon smirks, knowing he’s won. "C'mon, let's head out to the meeting, I hope you don't fire half of the staff today." 

The meeting goes the way he expected, his creative team looking frightened while he sits down on his chair. All can he see is trembling eyes, shaking hands and biting lips. Respecting Jihoon’s request, he doesn’t plan to fire people today. He lets out a sigh and the meeting room goes silent. 

“I think you all know why we are all here today. I went through all of your proposals and not even one of them spiked my interest,” he starts sternly. 

“You have 3 more days to submit more ideas. If I don’t like at least one of them, you know what will happen to your jobs,” he stands up from his chair. “Have a nice day,” he says and leaves the room.

When he gets back to his office, Seri is already there, settled on his desk with a crayon in her hand, busy with a coloring book. Eunwoo is watching her from the couch with a smile on her face. It’s the Seri effect – everyone loves her; he chuckles.

“Princess!” Seungcheol says, spreading his arms. 

Seri looks up and yells, “Daddy, you’re here,” as she leaves her spot and runs to Seungcheol to hug him. He embraces her tiny body, lifts her up and kisses her cheek. Then he puts her down again. “Go back to colouring baby, I still have things to finish before getting ready with you.” Seri nods and goes back to her colouring book. Now that Seungcheol thinks about it, he doesn’t know where that book came from, he’s pretty sure he didn’t buy it. 

“Eunwoo, did you give her that coloring book?” he asks, remembering she was still in the room.

“It’s a ballet themed coloring book, I hope she enjoys it,” she says and gives him an eye smile. Sometimes Seungcheol forgets how young Eunwoo really is, because she’s always so efficient and professional at everything she does. He softens. He’s glad everyone around him cares about his little bunny. “Thank you,” he says sincerely. Eunwoo hums. She bows at him and leaves the office. 

After sending some emails, he’s finally ready to help Seri get ready for her ballet lessons. He fetches her bunny bag from the small storage room in his office – he usually uses it to keep there extra suits, shoes and some hygiene products, you never know when they will become handy. He also has his own bathroom there, perks of being the boss. 

Seri abandons her colouring book so she can change clothes to her pink leotard and skirt; she doesn’t put on the slippers yet so she wears the other pink sparkly flats instead. They both emerge from the bathroom, Seungcheol, holding her hand as they walk back to the couch. He sits down and Seri settles between his legs. Seungcheol starts detangling her hair. He brushes her hair and starts to tie it up in a high ponytail, making sure there’s not a single hair out of place. When satisfied, he finally makes a little bun, secures it with some bobby pins and a net. He uses a chiffon scrunchie to finish it off, and taps Seri’s shoulder for her to turn around. The bun looks decent enough and seems stable. He definitely needs more practice, but this will do for today. 

Jihoon barges into the room with a camera in his hand and a grin plastered on his face. 

“Princess! Smile for uncle Hoonie,” he says in a cute tone. 

Seri nods, quickly smiles, then puts one hand on her waist and with the other one she does a peace sign, and she’s ready for the photoshoot. Jihoon then nudges her into trying different poses for the pictures to turn out better. He has her do the flower pose, then takes a picture of her standing up, sitting down, blowing a kiss, then a ballerina pose with both hands on the top of her head and then finally takes a photo with her and Seungcheol. This situation is so funny for him, Jihoon is most likely doing this for Soonyoung not to scold him later for not showing how Seri was dressed for the class. 

A photoshoot later, it’s finally time to head out to the ballet academy. This time Seungcheol takes the car to keep both the cupcakes and his daughter safe. When they reach the building, Seri sprints into the academy, too excited for her first day, with Seungcheol walking behind her, holding a big box of cupcakes. 

“Oh! So the cupcakes were real,” Joshua tells them as he stands up from the reception desk.

“Of course,” Seungcheol laughs. “This is why I asked you how many classmates Seri has.” 

Joshua walks to where Seungcheol is, takes the box from him and places it onto his desk. 

“I’ll take this. I’ll bring them after the class is over. I’m sure Jeonghan wouldn’t want sugar rushed kids for his class.” 

Seungcheol nods. 

“Parents are allowed to watch the first class, Mr. Choi,” Joshua adds. 

“Really? That’s splendid!” Seungcheol says. He really wanted to watch Seri’s first class and this really saves him the embarrassment of asking Joshua if he could stay. 

Seungcheol follows Joshua to the practice room where he’s welcomed by a polished wooden floor, big mirrors and kids running around the place. At one of the corners, there’s a pair of big black couches facing to the front, occupied by middle aged women who he believes are the mothers of the kids. He can feel many eyes on him and can hear hushed words as he walks to an empty space to sit down. He feels uncomfortable after noticing he’s the only dad in the room but he tries to brush that off and focus on his daughter instead. He still feels chills running down his spine, and in an attempt to ease them, he takes out his phone and checks his inbox, eyes also trained on Seri, who is already talking with another girl. Seungcheol feels proud; his daughter is indeed a social butterfly, he can only thank her teacher, Mr. Boo and Soonyoung, for helping her to open up to new people.

Too busy focused on his daughter, Seungcheol doesn’t notice Jeonghan entering the room, so he startles when he hears someone clap. Jeonghan is indeed standing in front of the mirrors, looking at the kids who have already begun to stand in rows, helped by another guy, who Seungcheol cannot recognize but assumes is an assistant. Jeonghan’s hair is tied up in a half ponytail, pulling all of his hair away from his face. His posture is elegant, he stands with both hands on his waist, body lines clear as he’s wearing a black leotard with matching tights. He has to take a moment to praise Jeonghan’s legs that are toned but slim at the same time, strong calves that still look delicate; now he has no doubt Jeonghan is a dancer. 

Jeonghan has no trouble in guiding the class. After he introduces himself and his assistant, whose name is Lee Chan, he starts teaching them a warming up routine. The background music sounds familiar to Seungcheol; he tries hard to remember where he heard it before but to no avail, that is, until he hears Seri squeal and say, “It’s the song from Frozen!” _Ahhh,_ so that’s where the song is from, he laughs to himself. The class goes smoothly; students focus on what Jeonghan teaches them, he slowly guides the kids with a mellow voice and afterwards they try to mimic his moves, Chan helping them when the posture is not correct or when it looks like they’re having a hard time learning a step. Overall, time flies rather fast, as the second half of the class finishes, Jeonghan opens his arms for all of his students to hug him; Seungcheol can listen to his giggles even from where he’s sitting. After the kids tackle him to the ground, he dismisses the class. 

On cue, Joshua enters the room carrying the cupcake box. 

“Kids, Mr. Choi and Seri brought some cupcakes to share with you,” he says loudly.

The kids start yelling and clapping, trying to grab a cupcake from Joshua; Seungheol is actually worried they will make him drop the box. 

Joshua smiles, “Okay, get in line so I can give you guys one each.” The students form a straight line very fast so he can start giving out the cupcakes. When he’s done, he speaks up, “Kids, remember to thank Mr. Choi for the cupcakes.” 

In unison, the kids say, “Thank you Mr. Choi.” He smiles and nods. After that, the dance room starts to get empty, as the parents leave with their kids. Jeonghan says goodbye from the door, having a small chat with some of the parents. 

Seungcheol watches as Jeonghan gets closer to the couch. He’s the only parent left, Seri being busy sitting down and eating another cupcake. 

Jeonghan stands in front of him and looks in his direction. Seungcheol doesn’t like this angle, he’s pretty sure he’s ogling at him from head to toes. He stands up and fixes his suit. 

“Nice suit, Mr. Choi,” he laughs innocently. 

Seungcheol lets out a chuckle, “Thank my stylist Seri for this outfit inspired by Disney prince.” He can hear Seri saying yes. 

“That’s cute,” Jeonghan says. “What did you think about the class?”

“Entertaining,” he says honestly. “I saw the kids enjoying every moment of it, you’re a great teacher.” 

“I’m glad,” Jeonghan says.

“Did you try the cupcakes?” Seungcheol asks. 

“Not yet, but Shua said he saved one for me,” Jeonghan replies. 

“Mr. Yoon! You should eat the cupcake soon, Daddy and I baked them,” Seri chirps in.

“You baked the cupcakes?” Jeonghan asks skeptically. 

“Yes, I bake sweets for Seri when I have the time.” Seungcheol says, embarrassed. 

“That’s adorable, I see Seri is being raised with so much love.”

“Well, we should get going, it’s getting late,” Seungcheol blurts out. Is he really doing this? Getting flustered by some compliments Seri’s teacher gave him? It doesn’t help at all that the said teacher is so attractive, sweet and also has a beautiful smile. 

“You’re right. See you on Wednesday then. I’ll tell you if I liked the cupcake,” Jeonghan points out. 

“Goodbye Mr. Yoon!” Seri says.

Jeonghan smiles, “See you next class, Seri,” he pats her head. “You too, Mr. Choi.” 

“Please call me Seungcheol,” he pleads.

“Noted. Then, see you on Wednesday, Seungcheol.” 

Seungcheol looks for Seri’s bag, takes it and holds her hand so they can get going. They start walking to the door. Jeonghan follows them to the lobby where he disappears into the teacher’s room; they meet Joshua at the reception. 

“Thanks for the cupcakes,” he says with a polite smile. Seungcheol notices two cupcakes on top of the desk. 

“Daddy’s cupcakes are the best,” Seri says. Seungcheol laughs. It feels like Seri has been hyping up his cupcakes all afternoon. 

Joshua nods, “I don’t doubt it.”

Jeonghan emerges with two mugs in hand. Seungcheol should really get going now. He bows to them and resumes his walk to the entrance. 


	3. rosy cheeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Seri says that today you glared at Mr.Yoon after the class. That’s not nice, Seungcheol, you need to control your temper.” 
> 
> “I didn’t glare at him, I promise I didn’t do that, princess,” Seungcheol says.
> 
> “Why were you staring so weirdly at Mr.Yoon daddy, I thought you didn’t like him,” Seri explains with her arms crossed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Happy Jeonghan day, I finished this update on time. I hope you guys like it, this update is like a transition, so there are very important points throughout the chapter.   
> Once again I thank Maria, the loml, for helping me out. I love you queen.

They go back to the same restaurant from last time, the buffet place being one of Seri’s favorite restaurants even if it doesn’t have a kids area. High ceilings and wall-length windows welcome Seungcheol back, but tonight Soonyoung already made a reservation, so he only has to tell his name to the waitress so she can take them to their table. 

“Uncle Soonie!” Seri yells as soon as she sees Soonyoung’s red hair from afar. She takes a sprint to the table; Soonyoung notices that so he stands up, crutches down and opens his arms. He catches Seri, who was running so fast Seungcheol is sure that the impact hit Soonyoung’s rib cage, but that didn’t stop him from grinning and spinning her around. 

“Hello, princess,” Jihoon says after Soonyoung finally puts her down.

“Uncle hoonie!” Seri runs to hug her uncle. Jihoon takes her into his arms and Seungcheol can see his smile growing. He is so glad both Jihoon and Soonyoung are so fond of his princess. 

This time, Soonyoung asks Seri if she would let him go with her to pick food for her, and she says yes, jumping out from her chair. Seungcheol lets out a chuckle; his daughter is just too cute, a living ball of sunshine. 

“Soonyoung spoils her too much,” Jihoon mutters, but there’s a grin plastered on his face. 

“C’mon, Jihoon, he doesn’t get to see her as much as you do, cut him some slack,” Seungcheol scolds him.

“I guess you’re right,” Jihoon says, looking at Soonyoung and Seri’s direction. They’re at the buffet island, and it looks like Seri is having a bit of a hard time picking what she wants to eat, but Soonyoung’s smile never ceases, his eyes look like moon crescents. 

“He really loves Seri,” Jihoon mumbles. 

“Of course, she is an angel, everyone loves her,” Seungcheol says proudly.

“Seungcheol, that was not what I meant,” Jihoon sighs.

Seungcheol frowns, he doesn’t understand, if liking Seri was not what Jihoon meant literally, what did he want to say then? Seri is a very polite and sweet girl, she behaves better than other kids her age. Seungcheol raised her well, he deserves the credit. Wait, that’s it! Kids! Jihoon was talking about Soonyoung liking kids. His eyes go wide at the realization.

“Soonyoung wants kids?” he blurts out. 

Jihoon immediately covers Seungcheol’s mouth with his hand and hisses, “Be quiet, can you?” 

Seungcheol gives Jihoon a puzzled look but then he hears Seri’s voice approaching, and ah, so that’s why he has to be quiet. 

“What were you talking about Jihoonie, you look flustered,” Soonyoung says as he puts his and Seri’s plate on the table. 

“I was arguing with Seungcheol about something going on at the office,” he brushes it off. 

“Yes, I’m having trouble with a team,” Seungcheol follows. “We’re going to go pick our food right now,” he stands up and makes a gesture to Jihoon. 

“What are you going to do?” Seungcheol asks him.

“I don’t know,” Jihoon confesses. 

“You guys should talk about it, you’ve been married for almost four years now,” Seungcheol reasons.

“I guess we have to, it’s not that I don’t want to, because I really do. But it’s a huge responsibility,” he explains. 

“C’mon Ji, if I could raise Seri with your help, I’m sure you will not have any problems.” 

Jihoon nods. He starts picking his food, realizing they have been away for quite a while now, Seri will be sulky when they get back; she likes to eat when all the people are back at the table.

“Daddy, you’re so slow, the food is getting cold,” Seri scolds him.

“I’m sorry princess,” Seungcheol kisses her forehead and sits down. 

The rest of the night goes by fast, with Seri ignoring both Seungcheol and Jihoon for being late and only talking to her uncle Soonie, the other two only getting to hear their conversation. Seri is whispering to Soonyoung something about her pretty ballet teacher, and Seungcheol really wants to know what Seri just said, because now she’s giggling as Soonyoung’s eyes go wide. Seungcheol suddenly feels uneasy, he wants to know if Seri liked her ballet teacher. That’s important, right? For her to feel comfortable around Jeonghan. And this has nothing to do with the fact that Seungcheol finds said teacher very attractive and also attentive with children.

“Seungcheol, care to tell why Seri thinks you don’t like her ballet instructor,” Soonyoung says.

“What?” he says, puzzled. He doesn’t like Jeonghan? this is new information for him, he actually likes him a little bit too much. 

“Seri says that today you glared at Mr.Yoon after the class. That’s not nice, Seungcheol, you need to control your temper.” 

“I didn’t glare at him, I promise I didn’t do that, princess,” Seungcheol says.

“Why were you staring so weirdly at Mr.Yoon daddy, I thought you didn’t like him,” Seri explains with her arms crossed.

Is Seungcheol really getting scolded by his daughter for staring too much at Jeonghan during today’s ballet class? He has to fix the way he looks at him because if Seri thinks he’s glaring at her teacher there’s definitely something wrong with him. 

“Seungcheol, were you judging the way he walks or something? You need to forget about work when you’re with your daughter, ” Soonyoung teases him. 

“That’s not it, I wasn’t judging him,” Seungcheol says in a high pitched voice. 

“Is he really that cute?” Jihoon joins.

He glares at Jihoon, he was really not helping Seungcheol tonight, they all ganged up to tease him. Betrayed by his own daughter. He cannot believe this felony. He doesn’t even know what to answer, he can’t deny Jeonghan is cute. 

“Oh, so that’s it,” Soonyoung grins. “Cheol has a crush on the teacher.” 

“Soonyoung, be quiet please. I do not have a crush on Seri’s teacher,” Seungcheol says.

“Your red ears beg to disagree,” Jihoon says. 

Seungcheol sighs. It’s impossible. He’s done; these guys are impossible. He helplessly looks at his daughter who is now grinning from ear to ear, but she stays quiet. This is getting weird. 

Seri doesn't say a word about the Jeonghan issue after they get back home. Seungcheol is not sure if he wants to ask her about it or not, he really hopes she understands that he doesn't hate her teacher, if that was her concern. Soonyoung told her that her dad didn't hate Mr. Yoon and that she had to understand that Seungcheol is very used to giving scrutinizing stares at people because of his job. Seri only nodded and kept eating as if nothing happened. 

Seungcheol only gets to drop off Seri at the ballet academy one time before his agenda starts getting tighter and tighter. 

Parents were still allowed to stay around this time and watch the class unfold. It was the last time, Joshua told the group before exiting the room. As soon as he left, Seungcheol could hear hushed complaints and see some of the parents were not very content about this. He actually understood why Joshua did this, the kids tend to get distracted when they know their parents are watching them, he only wanted the kids to focus on the class. Seungcheol gets that, but also he wants to be able to see Seri in this new environment. He can see she is now talking with two girls, and they’re all giggling while holding hands. 

“I see my girls already made a new friend,” a woman approaches him. She is shorter than Seungcheol, but she looks elegant wearing a long sleeved silk dress that he’s pretty sure he saw on the runway a few weeks ago. Her skin is very light, mimicking fine porcelain, her dark hair reaches to her shoulders. She has kind eyes. Seungcheol can see she’s wearing mascara and light eyeshadows, she has a refined nose and small plump lips. Why does this woman seem so familiar to him? Where has he seen her before? Damn Jihoon is the one who usually learns the faces and names of the people they meet.

“Seri likes to make new friends,” he replies with a smile. 

The woman nods and smiles at him, “We are holding a party for Wonyoung’s birthday next saturday, I’ll send you an invitation so you can bring Seri.” 

Wonyoung—he knows that name—is how the daughter of MK electronics’s CEO is named. Wait, that’s right! That's where he knows this woman. She is Kwon Eunbi, the CEO’s wife. Seungcheol really needs to take some vitamins because his mind is not being very helpful these days. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Kwon, Seri will be there," Seungcheol finally says. 

She laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Call me Eunbi, Mrs. Kwon is my mother." 

"Fair enough, you call me Seungcheol then." 

"Seungcheol, you're not in the parents' group chat now that I think about it," Eunbi looks at him. 

"Oh? When did that groupchat happen? I didn't know about it," Seungcheol replies embarrassed. 

"I made it during last class, what were you doing?" 

Flashbacks of him looking at Jeonghan's neat posture and toned legs come right back at him that moment, he shakes his head. Please, this is so embarrassing, he thinks, he really missed being added on the groupchat because he was too busy admiring the teacher. 

"Uhm, actually—" 

He's trying to figure out what to say when the source of his despair enters the room, Yoon Jeonghan in all his glory. Today he is wearing a burgundy leotard and black thighs. Are dance teachers supposed to look this good? So far Jeonghan has only worn sober colors to class, Seungcheol wonders how he would look wearing a pink leotard like the ones the kids are wearing. He’s pretty sure Jeonghan could suit both dark and pastel colors, it’s unfair. His hair is tied up in a ponytail again, but this time there are no baby hairs sticking out; his bone structure is literally insane, Seungcheol really cannot comprehend how someone can look so good with all his hair pushed back. 

  
  


The class starts so Seungcheol has to sit back, but not before Eunbi snatches his phone and adds him to the parents’ group chat herself. This woman scares Seungcheol sometimes, not only is she in charge of the kids but also she owns the biggest percentage of shares at her husband’s company. Was that even allowed? With a sweet smile, an eyelash flutter and manicured red nails, Seungcheol is sure she can get what she wants, powerful indeed. 

Today’s class had a similar structure like last time, the teacher’s showing the stretching routine to the kids, and playing on the second part. It was a good strategy, the kids learned but also had time to have fun. From where he was sitting down, he could see Jeonghan’s little smile while he watched the kids playing around with Chan. He looked like Soonyoung when he spent time with Seri, a very fond expression. He also wonders why Jeonghan is teaching kids, because at his young age, he could be competing or participating at ballet productions in the country or even overseas. 

He was so immersed in his thoughts he didn’t realize the class was already over until Eunbi touched his shoulder, giving him a sly smile when he looked at her.

“So, that’s why you weren’t paying attention last class, you were too busy monitoring Mr. Yoon,” she accuses him. 

“What? No!” He tries miserably to defend himself. 

“Don’t try to deny it Choi, I saw it with my own eyes,” Eunbi says in a mocking tone.

“Okay, fine!” he admits. “But please be quiet, I don’t want the whole class to know.”

Eunbi uses her hand to imitate a zipper and zips her mouth and shoots him an eye smile. She is scary and now she knows how to torture him, this is great.

“Well, I gotta go, Hitomi has to finish her homework before dinner,” Eunbi announces. She calls the girls, holds their hands and exits the room. Seungcheol only noticed at this moment that she was wearing high heels. How in the world didn’t she slip considering these wooden floors are not the best for walking in high heels? 

“Seungcheol-ssi,” Jeonghan walks to his direction. “I see you met Mrs. Kwon.”

“Yeah, she’s an enigma,” Seungcheol breathes.

Jeonghan laughs, then nods. “When she came to enroll her daughters, she asked Joshua so many questions that he had a headache once she left.” 

“I suddenly feel bad for Joshua,” Seungcheol chuckles. 

“Oh, I almost forgot I have to tell you guys something,” Seungcheol says.

“Sure, let me get Joshua.” 

What Seungcheol tells them is that for a couple of weeks he won’t be able to drop Seri to class, so he will send her with someone else, and that he will send Joshua an email with the names and a picture of the authorised people who can take her home as well. The reason is because the deadline for this magazine issue is approaching and because of the main photoshoot fiasco, they have to work faster against the clock, which means he will have more meetings to attend, more documents to sign and approve, to check the process and also attend the photoshoots. 

“I guess I won’t see you around,” Jeonghan mutters. Seungcheol swears he looks kind of sad. He’s officially losing his mind. 

“I’ll try to come pick Seri up some days,” he says in response. 

“I’m sure Seri would be delighted,” Jeonghan says with a smile. 

Seungcheol really doesn’t know who’s going to be more happy to see him, Jeonghan or Seri, his mind has been on a spiral since Eunbi found out about his little crush. Yes, he came to the conclusion that he has a crush on Yoon Jeonghan and he does not know how to act. 

🎀

Jihoon was right, if he would’ve come up with a photoshoot theme they wouldn't be in this situation now. The only word that can describe what is currently happening at the company is—chaos. People running around from room to room, trying to meet the deadlines, an exorbitant amount of coffee cups, a lot of emergency meetings happening at once at every department, the list goes on. Seungcheol’s office is not different, pieces of clothing in hangers are scattered around the room, entire rows of shoes are lined up and waiting for approval from him, accessories, scarves, sunglasses... it looks like his office is the company’s storage room instead. On his desk there’s a pile of documents waiting for him to sign them, a stack of model profiles for him to choose, but right now he really wants a break. 

It has been five days since the last time he saw Seri, she has been staying with Soonyoung since Seungcheol has been going back home past midnight. He’s thankful Soonyoung is there to help and also won’t feel lonely since Jihoon has been extremely busy as well. Jihoon’s stress levels have been increasing everyday, becoming more irritated and sarcastic. Seungcheol is glad he’s not going back home like that, it would be difficult for Soonyoung to handle him in that state. Everyone needs this hellish week to end, but for now, he is going to sit down at his desk and sign those documents, settle for a couple of models and when he’s done, he is going to tell Eunwoo so she can arrange a meeting with the photographers, now that they finally have everything settled up for them. 

It’s past 7pm when he finishes for the day. He’s truly exhausted but there’s one thing he really wants to do, and that is, to talk to his princess. Seungcheol takes his phone and dials Soonyoung’s number for a video call. At the third ring, Soonyoung answers the phone. 

“Seungcheol! You look like a zombie,” he says. 

He can hear a very familiar song in the background. It seems like they are watching a movie, Frozen 2 to be exact. He smiles, at least his princess is doing okay. 

“Daddy!” Seri beams. “I miss you.”

“Bunny, I miss you too.” Seungcheol sighs, he misses her so much.

“What are you doing with uncle Soonie?” he asks, even though he knows the answer.

“We are watching Frozen 2! Uncle Soonie is so good at imitating Olaf,” she tells Seungcheol.

“Is that so? I see Uncle Soonie is very funny.” 

“Princess, how are the ballet classes going? You’re behaving well, right?” he asks.

Seungcheol asks because he doesn't know much about how the ballet classes are going for Seri, he only knows that she’s attending them. The last time he talked with Joshua was to send him the email he promised, where he listed Mr. Park, Eunwoo and Soonyoung as the authorised people that can take Seri home. Most of the time, Mr. Park dropped Seri off after getting her lunch and Eunwoo picked her up and took her to Soonyoung’s house. Eunwoo didn’t report him any problems or complaints, so he hopes everything is going smoothly. 

“Ballet is fun! Mr. Yoon is very nice to us,” Seri replies. Her face now is a little bit too close to the screen. She looks so cute.

“That’s good princess, be nice too, don’t give headaches to Mr. Yoon.” 

“Yes, daddy!” she chirps. 

“I gotta go, don’t stay up too late princess,” he warns.

“Good night daddy, I love you!” Seri says. 

“I love you too, princess,” he replies almost instantly. 

Soonyoung takes his phone back. Seungcheol can hear how the movie starts playing again as well, meaning Seri is now back in her own world. 

“She asks about you everyday even though you call her quite regularly. I wish Jihoon was like that,” Soonyoung sighs dramatically.

“He’s busier than me, I even have to check if he’s even eating properly. I force him to eat with me,” Seungcheol muses.

“Good job Cheol, thank you for keeping my man alive,” he laughs. 

“My pleasure,” Seungcheol chuckles.

“But, for real. I have to go, I just got an email from Eunwoo, I have a late meeting with the creative team.”

“Okay, good luck man.” Soonyoung says as he ends the call.

Getting up from the couch proved to be a difficult thing to do, his whole body aches from the skin to the bones, he’s pretty sure a headache is developing, not to add the fact he skipped dinner. With a groan, Seungcheol takes out the phone again and orders food, Seri would not like it if his dad starts losing weight; he already looks bad, with dark circles and all. The meeting with the creative team goes smoothly, they give him a rundown of the entire magazine issue, photoshoots, articles, products used and everything. For once this week, he does not want to rip his hair off. 

If the previous days were difficult with all the planning and organizing, the next days are the absolute worst. Even longer meetings with photographers, fittings with models, location visiting and more documents to revise and sign. Seungcheol actually likes to do these things when he’s not under pressure, he can hear the clock ticking at the back of his head and that doesn’t let him enjoy his job. 

This morning already made his mood sour, he woke up after an incessant ringing of his phone, which he threw someone near the nightstand last night; and by last night, it means about 4 hours ago. With a groan, he frantically looks for the torture device that’s interrupting his sweet sleep time. He has 6 missed calls from Eunwoo and 8 from Jihoon, by the time he reaches the office, he’d be dead meat. He calls Jihoon back, and when he answers, he starts yelling at Seungcheol. 

“Jihoon, please lower your voice. I do not understand what you’re trying to say,” Seungcheol tries to calm him down.

“I can’t deal with you right now, get your ass ready and come to the office. Last minute changes, photoshoot B is today.” Jihoon sighs. 

“What? Is everything even ready for that?”

“No, Seungcheol. That's why I need you to be here and sign some freaking documents.” Jihoon hisses. 

“Got it, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Make it fifteen,” Jihoon says and the line goes dead. 

Surprisingly, the photoshoot is a success. Seungcheol can only thank the photographer for being so talented at his job, because all he did was give him the concept. People would say he gives the photographers too much liberty when it comes to the photographs they take, but Seungcheol thinks he doesn’t. He has the blessing of finding talented photographers who understand his work ethic and his ideas, letting them explain their point of view has helped both Seungcheol and the magazine to obtain what they really want to show the audience. 

Kim Mingyu, a young but exceptional photographer is the one taking the lead today. They met when Seungcheol was in London for a business trip a few years ago. Mingyu was working as a freelancer, and despite that he still managed to land big projects because he was that talented. Seungcheol had the pleasure to witness how Mingyu carried himself when he was working. It was completely different from what Seungcheol was used to see, a peculiar method to guide a photoshoot, but the results were astounding. After that day, Mingyu later became one of the most important photographers at SC. 

"Mr. Choi, you have a meeting with the executives at 3pm, a model fitting at 5pm with Mr. Moon and you need to revise the report finances sent this morning," Eunwoo says as they walk back to the car from the photoshoot set. 

"Got it, and before that?" Seungcheol asks. 

"Before that, you have to eat something," Eunwoo smiles. 

"Well, we’d better get going then."

Seungcheol, Jihoon and Eunwoo decide that the italian restaurant near the office was their best option; they called it beforehand so the food would be ready when they get there. 

"Eunwoo, did Seri behave well yesterday?" Seungcheol asks. His bunny had ballet yesterday, the least he can do is actually remembering the days of her lessons. Eunwoo was the one who dropped her at Soonyoung's house. 

"She didn't give me problems at all, we even went for ice cream," Eunwoo says. 

"Woah, look at you, having time to go for ice cream with my daughter while I'm rotting in paperwork," he complains. 

"Seungcheol, stop whining. You look ridiculous." Jihoon says from the front seat. 

Ignoring Jihoon's comment, Seungcheol goes back to his previous conversation. 

"Her ballet teachers didn't tell you anything about her? Like if she's been less energetic or something?" He’s actually concerned, he feels like he has been neglecting his own daughter, even if that's not what's happening. 

"You don't need to worry, boss. The teachers didn't say anything." 

"I'm glad," he says, relieved. 

"Oh! That's right!" Eunwoo speaks and she snaps her fingers. 

"Something funny happened yesterday," she starts saying. 

"I went to pick Seri up, and when I got there she was talking with Mr. Yoon, the ballet teacher. When she saw me she started running to where I was so I just hugged her. The teacher also walked to my direction and then greeted me. He’s so nice, by the way." 

"What happened next, Eunwoo," Jihoon says with insistence. 

"Right, sorry. So he said hi, I said hi, and then he said, 'Seri is such a bright girl, I can see your daughter loves you very much’ to me. Boss, he thought I was Seri's mom!" 

"And what did you say?" Seungcheol asks. If he's being honest, this was very funny. Did Jeonghan think he is married? Well he does have a daughter, so it's only logic to think that. 

"I said she wasn't my daughter, obviously. I told him that I'm your assistant, nothing more and that you're not married. Poor guy got so embarrassed his neck and ears got red,” she laughs. 

"Seungcheol, didn't you make it obvious that you're gay? If you want to make some progress with Jeonghan you gotta state that clearly," Jihoon explains. 

"What? I don't even know if he likes guys." 

"Oh, I'm sure he does. My instincts tell me so," Eunwoo chirps in.

Seungcheol groans. At least Jeonghan knows he's not married, would that even help? Who knows? 

"Before I forget," Eunwoo says, "boss, since photoshoot B was moved for today, your schedule is cleared for tomorrow evening."

"I can finally go to pick up my daughter, and we can have dinner together." Seungcheol wants to cry. 

"Yours too, Mr. Lee."

"Oh thank God, I'll take Soonyoung out for dinner as well. Should I buy him flowers?" 

"Do it,” Seungcheol and Eunwoo say in unison. 

🎀

Today is less packed. With the photoshoot done, Seungcheol can finally focus on other issues. And by that he means he can finally catch up with the never ending pile of documents on his desk and finally arrange the meetings with the editors. He knows that as an executive director he shouldn't be doing all of this, but because of his high demands to the creative team, Jihoon decided it would be better if he was also the chief editor. Seungcheol really loves this job, and being in the process of bringing a magazine issue to life is one of his favorite things. 

As he was signing and proofreading documents, Eunwoo entered his office unannounced and a little bit disheveled. Something is going on, he thinks. Why can't he have a peaceful day, paperwork is boring but it's better than fixing messes. 

"Boss, we have a problem," she says after collecting herself in front of Seungcheol. 

"What happened?" 

“I got a call from Kim Mingyu, he said that his files are incomplete," Eunwoo informs him. 

"Incomplete? What does that even mean? Isn't he the one responsible for keeping his cameras and SD cards safe?" Seungcheol groans. 

"I told him so, but Mingyu said that yesterday he left before the staff because he had another appointment,” Eunwoo says with a softer voice. 

"So the missing files must be at yesterday's location. Call Jihoon and tell him to finish the paperwork for me and you're coming with me." 

After arriving, Seungcheol goes to ask security and Eunwoo asks the cleaning service. Fortunately, the SD card was found this morning after the studio was cleaned. Security had it and gladly returned it to them but not before confirming what was inside and if they were really the owners. Seungcheol's forehead vein was already popping up, his patience ran out fast; he had to let Eunwoo deal with them. 

"Thank you, we're truly sorry for this mishap," Eunwoo said with a smile. 

"Call over the creative team, we're having the meeting at Mingyu's in 20," Seungcheol ordered. 

"On it, boss," she says. They get into the car and Seungcheol drives so that Eunwoo can take care of the calls. 

Having the meeting at Mingyu's studio proves to be the best idea he has thoughtof. The process is faster, choosing the photographs that better suit the theme, listening to Mingyu's point of view and also taking in his suggestions. 

"I think we can use this picture as the first page, it's the one that's more attractive to the eye," Mingyu says. 

"I agree, maybe you can enhance the colors a little and it would be perfect," Jungwoo, a member of the creative team says. 

"Boss?" Mingyu turns at him for approval.

Seungcheol nods. 

These meetings are his favorite, they decide step by step, page by page how will the photoshoot will be structured inside the magazine. But it can also be time consuming, by the time the meeting is over, it's already dark outside. 

Wait. It's dark outside. 

Seungcheol checks his phone:

'7:15pm'

'3 missed calls from La Rose Joshua Hong' 

'2 missed calls from Kwon Soonyoung' 

'2 messages from Kwon Soonyoung' 

  
  


“Shit!” 

"I forgot I was going to pick Seri up from ballet!" 

Seungcheol runs to his car and heads to the academy as fast as his car takes him, not giving a single fuck about transit laws. He can't believe he totally forgot about picking her up. He groans. He even put his phone in silence for the meeting. Seungcheol can only hope for his bunny to be okay, she must be hungry and she is definitely mad at him. 

He parks his car in front of the academy, but he doesn't get off. The lights of the entire building are turned off, which means there's no one inside. He curses as he dials Joshua's number. After three rings, he answers. 

"Hello, Seungcheol. I tried to call you earlier,” he says in a calm tone. 

"I fucked up Joshua, I'm sorry about this. Where is she?" 

"Calm down, Seungcheol, she’s okay. We waited for you for quite a while but you didn't show up and didn't answer the phone. So we followed what you wrote in case of emergency."

Seungcheol breathes in, he feels like air is finally entering his lungs, then he exhales, his brain is no longer in emergency mode. Seri is safe. 

"Jeonghan took her to your office, they both should be there now. Hurry up," Joshua says. 

"Thank you Joshua, I'm deeply sorry for this situation, I promise this won't happen again," Seungcheol cries. 

"It's okay, trust me, you're not the first person who has been through the same thing." 

Seungcheol hangs up and drives to the company, at least Seri is safe at his office, the building has high security and there's always people who stay overtime. Most likely, Jihoon is still there working, he tries his best to relax but he won't be able to unless he sees Seri himself. 

He meets Jihoon at the lobby, hair disheveled, tie undone and the suit coat discarded. 

"Hey, Cheol. You're finally here," Jihoon says.

"Is Seri upstairs?" He asks immediately. 

Jihoon hums, "The teacher and Seri are upstairs. Let me say, he's cute, now I get you." 

"Jihoon, stop."

"Ah man, you're no fun. I gotta go, I have to fix my appearance before I meet Soonyoung for dinner. Also, I got both of them a snack, I was going to order dinner but Seri said she wanted to eat with you."

"Thank you. Hurry up, don't make Soonyoung wait," Seungcheol pats his shoulder. 

When he walks into his office, he is greeted with a pleasant surprise. Nothing would have prepared him for the sight in front of him. Never in a million years he would've imagined this, not even in his wildest dreams. Jeonghan and Seri were fast asleep on the couch, and to Seungcheol's surprise, Seri was holding Jeonghan's hand; she was asleep with her head on Jeonghan's lap, facing the door, so he is able to see her peaceful face clearly. Jeonghan has an arm placed on Seri's belly, he's facing downwards, it looks like he didn't want to fall asleep but he ended up being betrayed by his own body. His neck must hurt, Seungcheol thinks. 

As if she sensed Seungcheol's presence, Seri opens her eyes and with a confused expression she gets up. When she finally identifies the body standing in front of her as Seungcheol, she jumps from the couch, waking up Jeonghan as well. 

"Daddy! You're late!" she says with an angry tone, but she still runs to hug her dad. 

"Princess, I'm so sorry, it’s my fault, please forgive me," he says as he hugs Seri tighter. 

He can see Jeonghan is barely awake, his eyebrows are furrowed and his lips are forming a pout. Cute, he looks like Seri when someone wakes her up from her nap. 

"It's okay, Mr. Yoon brought me here and we ate cookies and tea uncle Hoonie gave us," Seri tells him. 

Seungcheol looks at Jeonghan with a heavy heart, he doesn't even know where to start apologizing for. When he's about to open his mouth, Jeonghan interrupts him. 

"Don't say anything, it's okay. I know you're sorry but it's fine," he says in a rush. 

"It's not okay, I made you waste your time by coming here and staying with her, I'm sure you have better things to do than babysitting someone else's child," Seungcheol reasons. 

"It's fine, really. I love spending time with Seri. It's just that, hmmm. Give me a heads up when you're gonna disappear like this." Jeonghan puts his hand over his head, his cheeks look blushed, and his eyes uneasy.

"Okay, I get it. I won't say sorry anymore. And I'll let you know if I get busy again." 

"Give me your phone," Seungcheol says confidently. 

Jeonghan's eyes go wide. 

"I'll give you my phone number, so you can contact me directly," Seungcheol says. 

Jeonghan nods, takes out his phone, unlocks it and gives it to him. Seungcheol takes it and quickly adds his phone number. He gives it back. 

"There you go, thank you for doing this, Jeonghan." 

"No problem, it's not the first time something like this happens," Jeonghan brushes it off.

"Joshua told me the same thing." 

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Seri says. 

"I'm sorry princess, you haven't eaten dinner yet," Seungcheol frowns. 

He realizes Jeonghan hasn't eaten dinner either. They came to the office after class, and didn't eat dinner because Seri refused to let Jihoon order food for her. 

"Jeonghan, would you like to come with us for dinner?" 

"It's fine, I'm sure you want to spend time with your daughter, but thank you for asking," Jeonghan says, already holding his bag, ready to leave. 

“That’s not fair. Mr. Yoon, come with us!” Seri runs to Jeonghan's direction and hugs his leg. Also she shoots him the powerful Seri eyes, and no one can possibly say no to those eyes. 

Jeonghan laughs, bites his lips and ruffles Seri's hair. 

"Okay, you won today Choi Seri, I'll go with you to get dinner," Jeonghan tells her. 

"Yesssss!" She jumps in excitement. 

Seungcheol kind of feels the same way, he's going out for dinner with Seri and Jeonghan. Maybe this day is not that bad after all. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, for people who are curious, Seri's name in korean is spelled like this: 최세리
> 
> Follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/HSunHyuk)!!

**Author's Note:**

> let's be friends on [twitter](https://twitter.com/HSunHyuk)


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